Waste disposal apparatus



April 8, 1958 c. E. HAUsER 2,829,840

WASTE DIsPosAL APPARATUS med oct. 15. 195e WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS Charles E# Hauser, Jeffersonville, Ind., assignor to General Electric' Company, a corporation of New York Application october 1s, 1956, Serial No. 615,865

` z claims. (Crm1-100.5)

The present invention Trelates to waste disposal apparatus, and has as its principal object the provision of an improved comminuting mechanismv for apparatusk of this'type.` l v Another 'object of this invention is to provide waste disposal apparatus including a stationary shredding member and a rotary shredding member provided with jointed hammers which are freely retractable to non-jamming positions. Y

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparentas `the following description proceeds and the features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularityin the claims annexed Ato andfforming a part of this specification. Y

" 'Briefly stated, in'accordance with 'one aspect of this invention there is provided a Waste disposer including a hopper adapted to receive a mixture of waste material and water, a fixed shredding ring member, a rotary member at the bottom of the chamber, and a pair of pivoted hammers carried by the rotary member, each hammer being mounted for pivotal movement on the end of an arm which is pivotally secured to the rotary member.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be made to the following description and the accompanying drawing in which:

. Fig. 1 is a fragmentary elevation view, in section, of a waste disposer incorporating the present invention; and

Fig. 2 is a top view of the rotary shredding member of the invention.

Referring to the drawing, Fig. l shows a waste disposal device having a generally tubular casing or hopper 1 enclosing a grinding and shredding chamber 2 at the bottom of which the comminuting of waste material takes place. The upper end of hopper 1 is provide with means suitable for supporting the device in the drain opening of the sink or the like, the supporting means including a flanged drain sleeve 3, a clamping ring 4 and clamping bolts 5, all arranged so that the open top of hopper 1 may be supported in alignment with the sink drain opening. Preferably, the drain opening is equipped with a suitable drain stopper, such as that disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 2,787,423 granted to Fred W. Moore and assigned to the assignee of the present application. The lower end of hopper 1 is provided with a flange 7 which carries mounting screws 8 for securing a motor housing 9 to the hopper so as to form an integral structure. Mounted Within motor housing 9 is an electrical motor (not shown) provided with a vertically extending shaft extending through wall 10 of the motor housing 9 and to which is ixedly secured to rotary shredding member of the present invention. Wall 10 forms the bottom wall of the discharge chamber 11 into which comminuted material and water is discharged from the grinding chamber, discharge chamber 11 being provided with a discharge outlet in which a discharge or drain pipe 12 is mounted.

Secured to the bottom of hopper 1 is a generally cylindrial shredding ring 13 provided with a ange 14 at the top thereof which is clamped betweenange 7 of hopper 1 and the upper end of motor housing 9 so that the shredding ring is stationary with respect to the hopper, the joint being sealed by gasket 15. Shredding ring 13 is provided with aplurality` of'shr'edding projections 16 on its inn'er surface, a plurality of` openings 17 through which comminuted 'materialis expelled during grinding operations, and arow ofapertures 18 arranged to drain excess water from the comminuting zone. Projections 16, openings 17 vand apertures 18 may `beconveniently formed by lancing and stamping operations, or by any other suitable means. The'arrangement and functions of shredding ring 13 are more fully described and claimedin application Serial No'.l553,1l9 filed December 14,Y 1955 by Herbert J. Macemon and assigned to the assignee of the present application. ln accordance withthe present invention, waste mate,- rial in they grinding chamber'2 is 'impelled againstthe inner surface of shredding ring 13 by a `rotatable grinding member generally designated bythe numeral 19. Grind-V ing member 19 includes a circular flywheel or, table 20 mounted for rotation with a motor shaft extending up` wardly through wall 10, V,the periphery of rotary ywheel 20 having a runningclearance with the inner surface ,of shreddingring13.'` Flywheel A20` carries la pair of impellers, generally designated by the numeral 21, pivotally mounted` thereon and arrangedto impel waste vmaterial against the inner surface `of shredding ring13 and also to directly cooperate with shredding projections 16 and the edges of apertures 17 in effecting the shredding of the waste material. While a pair of impellers are employed in the illustrated embodiment, either a single impeller or more than two impellers may be useful and effective in certain applications.

Impeller 21 includes an arm 22 pivotally connected to the ywheel 20 for movement about an axis generally parallel to the axis of rotation of the flywheel, but spaced therefrom. On the swinging or free end of the arm 22 a hammer member 23 is pivotally connected for movement about an axis which is also substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of flywheel 20. Arm 22 and hammer 23 are so proportioned that hammer 23 is movable to a radially extended position in which its outer portion is adjacent the inner wall of shredding ring 13, by the centrifugal force resulting from rotation of flywheel 20. As illustrated in Fig. 2, hammer 23 is free to pivot about its axis to the position shown in dotted lines on contact with a large object such as a bone or a fruit pit, and thus prevents such an object from jamming the comminuting mechanism. Furthermore both arm 22 and hammer 23 may pivot about the axis of arm 22, thus providing a further relieving action under jamming conditions. In addition, an important feature of impeller 21 is its jackkning action in case a particle of waste material becomes jammed between the outer surface of hammer 23 and the inner surface of shredding ring 13. Under these conditions, a single axis impeller may not pivot so as to relieve the jamming condition, but it will be noted that the impeller of the present invention collapses under these conditions, pivotal movement between the hammer 23 and arm 22 making it impossible for hammer 23 to be jammed against shredding ring 13. Furthermore it is believed that the free movement of hammer 23 on the end of arm 22 provides a beating `action during operation which provides improved grinding and shredding action.

While a specific embodiment of this invention has been shown and described, it is not intended that the invention be vlimited to the particular construction shown and described, and I intend by the appended claims to cover Patented Apr. `8, 1958" all modifications withinthe true spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United Sta-tesis: i.

l. Waste disposal apparatus for use with a sink having a drain outlet comprisingr a housing providing a grinding chamber 'and having at `it s upper end an inlet opening for water and waste material, mounting means for. securing said housing to the sink with said inlet opening in alignment with said drain outlet, projecting shredding members iixedly secured within said grinding chamber, a rotatablegrinding member within said grinding chamber, a discharge chamber adapted to receive comminuted material yfro'm'said grindingchamber, and an. impeller pivotally mounted on said rotatable member for movement about an axis generallyl parallel to the axis of rotation of said, rotatable member, said impeller including an' arm pivotally secured to said rotatable member and a hammer member pivotally secured to said arm for pivotal movement abouti-an axis parallel to said axis of rotation, the pivotal axis of saidl arm being displaced radially from said axis of rotation and the pivotal axis of said hammer member `being displaced from the pivotal axis of said arm, anda cylindrical'shredding ring defining the side wall of the bottom portion of said grinding chamber, said shredding ring having `a plurality of discharged openings communicating with said' discharge'chamber and located adjacent the swinging ends of said hammer members, whereby said waste material is projected by said hammer members radially outwardly through saiddischarge openings after being comminuted vin said grinding chamber.

2. Waste disposal apparatus for use with a sink having a drain outlet comprising a housing providing a generally cylindrical grinding chamber and having at its uppe''end an inlet opening for water and waste material, mounting means 4for securing said housing `to the sink with said inlet opening in alignment with said drain outlet, a rotatable circular grinding flywheel mounted at the bottom of said grinding chamber for rotation about a first axis aligned with the axis of said grinding chamber, an impeller pivotally mounted on said flywheel, said impeller including an arm pivotally connected to said flywheel for move-4 ment about a second axis generally parallel to said first axis, a hammer member pivotally connected to the swinging end of said arm for movement about a thirdaXis' parallel to said rst and second axes, said hammer member being movable to a position adjacent said inner chamber wall by the centrifugal force resulting from rotation of said iywheel, and a cylindrical shredding ring dening the side wall of the bottom portion of said grinding chamber, said shredding ring having a plurality vof circumferentially spaced shredding projections xedly secured thereto and a plurality of discharge openings communieating with said discharge chamber, said discharge'openings being located yadjacentl the swinging ends of said hammer members', whereby said waste material is projected by said hammer members radially outwardly through saidv discharge openings after being comminuted in said grinding chamber. 

